40 years on, key clauses in Assam Accord remain unfulfilled

Guwahati, Aug 15: Even after 40 years of the signing of the Assam Accord, the main clauses of the Accord are yet to be implemented. The process of detection and deportation of foreigners is yet to begin, while other major clauses are still on paper.

Clause 5.8 of the Assam Accord said that the foreigners who came to Assam on or after March 25, 1971, will be detected and deported, and their names will be deleted from the electoral rolls. But even today, the process of detection and deportation of foreigners remains a farce, and no one even knows how many foreigners are living illegally in the State.

The Accord said "immediate and practical steps shall be taken to expel foreigners", but 40 years have passed, and the Central and State Governments have failed to take that immediate and practical step.

The National Register of Citizens (NRC) could have helped in the detection of foreigners. But the NRC, published in 2019, was not satisfactory for the stakeholders, and no one knows its fate as cases are pending before the Supreme Court.

Interestingly, the Central and State Governments are also claiming that the NRC was not satisfactory, but neither the Central nor the State Government has filed any affidavit in the Supreme Court in this regard. Moreover, the Central Government blatantly violated that clause of the Accord by bringing in the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.

Clause 6 of the Accord said that Constitutional, administrative, and legislative safeguards would be provided to the Assamese people. The Central Government formed a committee headed by Justice Biplab Sharma (retd) to recommend measures to implement that clause.

The State Government has started the process of implementing the recommendations regarding the protection of land, culture, and languages of the indigenous people of the State. But the main recommendations, including reservation of seats in the Assembly, Parliament, and local bodies, introduction of the inner line permit system in Assam, etc., are yet to be implemented by the Central Government, and no decision has yet been taken in this regard.

In clause 7, the Government assured to work for the speedy economic development of Assam to improve the standard of living. The Numaligarh Refinery was established in the State under that clause.

However, as floods and erosion are a major threat to the economy of the State, a meeting held under the Chairmanship of the then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in 2005 agreed to declare floods as a national problem, and advertisements were also issued through the media in this regard. But the assurance remains on paper till date.

In clause 8.1 of the Accord, the Government promised to issue citizenship certificates to the people of Assam, but that has not yet been done. In clause 9.1, the Centre assured to secure the international border to prevent fresh infiltration.

Though the 1 deployment of BSF along the India-Bangladesh border has increased and electronic equipment has been placed into service to act as force multipliers, infiltration is still not fully stopped, as was proved by recent arrests of Bangladeshi nationals and members of terrorist groups, who managed to sneak in from Bangladesh.

Clause 10 of the Accord said that encroachments would be checked and the illegal encroachers would be evicted. It took the Government 40 years to start the process of eviction of encroachers from the forest lands and sattra lands.

Only in the last couple of years, the Government started eviction drives, and it seems it is too late as more than three lakh hectares of forest land is under encroachment.